Sivaram an inspiration to Tamil journalists - Uthayan

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 May 2005, 20:33 GMT]Saluting the work of Dharmaretnam Sivaram, the Tamil columnist abducted and murdered in Sri Lanka’s capital on Friday, the popular Jaffna Tamil daily, Uthayan, said in its editorial Monday that he would remain an “inspiration to Tamil journalists with love for the nation and their people.”

Extracts from the Uthayan’s editorial follow:

“Dharmaretnam Sivaram has demonstrated that a journalist can serve his people to the extent that he can be hailed their ‘Great Human Being’. He lived in the Sinhala chauvinists’ den and fearlessly exposed to the world the Sri Lankan state’s false propaganda and repression of the Tamil people

“Sivaram didn’t raise his voice for Tamil nationalism while living in the safety of a foreign country or away from government controlled areas of this island. He didn’t hide away, working secretly or hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet. Neither did he espouse his views only to the Tamil people, in their language; Sivaram also wrote of views in English with unrivalled clarity.

“His pen started to undermine the Sinhala chauvinists’ ambitions just as the armed fighters did on the battlefield. That is why government terror was unleashed upon him.

“Sinhala chauvinism has fantasies of crushing the Tamils’ struggle for self-determination by destroying individuals like Kumar Ponnampalam or Dharmaratnam Sivaram. But such a struggle will not be defeated by these acts but will only gain in strength. Sivaram has shown through his work how the liberation struggle can be strengthened through journalism. He will always remain an inspiration to Tamil journalists with love for the nation and their people. And that is the truth.”